Seahawks take Paul Richardson, Justin Britt in round two

There are two things we can take out of this. The Seahawks do like to draft for need, and they do like to keep people guessing.

They look for their guys. For the most part it’s worked. People laughed at the Russell Wilson selection, they didn’t rate the Richard Sherman’s out there. They don’t always hit with these picks — but they know what they want and they don’t care what anyone thinks about it.

They traded down twice before selecting Paul Richardson (WR, Colorado) with the 45th pick. In the process they passed on several ‘bigger’ receivers to get another explosive, speedy smaller guy. At #64 they took Justin Britt (T, Missouri) a guy many people had in the 7th round or UDFA range.

So Seahawky.

I’m going to get into the tape tonight and over the next few days we’ll really break down what they’ll hopefully bring to the team. Here’s a few thoughts on the picks and other notes:

— John Schneider said at the end of the draft that without a trade at #32 they would’ve taken Richardson in round one.

— They clearly trust Tom Cable implicitly. If he says he wants a guy, they go get him. The James Carpenter and John Moffitt picks didn’t work out as planned. He’s had some success developing later round players. We’ll see how this latest selection pans out.

— In a press conference Cable revealed Britt will compete at right tackle with Michael Bowie — and could also play guard. He also said Alvin Bailey will be the backup left tackle as things stand.

— Both of Seattle’s picks have suffered ACL injuries during their careers.

— Richardson is a dynamite player and was a team captain at Colorado. People have compared him to DeSean Jackson — I think he’s different. He’s not a sparky glider like Jackson. He runs good routes — he’s really crisp into his breaks to create separation. He has a knack of getting open — avoiding press and finding space. When plays break down he sets off downfield. He makes spectacular catches and can high point the ball. He’s another playmaker for the offense. He reminds me more of T.Y. Hilton — who had a big game against Seattle in 2013.

— What Richardson also does, unfortunately, is drop the occasional ugly one. That doesn’t mean he has a ton of drops, it’s just the ones he does have are kind of crazy. In one game last year (I think vs Oregon) he dropped a sure touchdown under no pressure. Let’s hope he avoids that at the next level.

— Seahawks scout Matt Berry said of Richardson in a press conference tonight: “All he does is get open and make plays.” Berry also stated he wasn’t much of a return man.

— The Seahawks still lack a true red zone threat. They don’t have that natural big target. How much of a concern is it though? They won a Championship without that type of player. They had options (Cody Latimer, Brandon Coleman) if they wanted a big man. And they chose to go in another direction.

— In taking Britt the Seahawks passed on Morgan Moses, who lasted until the third round. By trading out of the first round yesterday they subsequently lost the opportunity to draft Joel Bitonio (who landed in Cleveland at #35). After trading from #40 to #45 they missed out on Cyrus Kouandjio (drafted by Buffalo at #44). We’ll never know if they had interest in either player — but having taken a tackle at #64 you can’t help but look back at the alternatives and compare.

— I’m not going to pretend I know anything about Britt other than he has similar athletic traits to the top tackles in this draft. He does have shorter arms but he’s played multiple positions on the O-line. Mike Mayock said he had a 5th round grade on him.

— Seattle has three 4th round picks tomorrow and now only one 5th. They also acquired a seventh rounder in the trade with Detroit.

— The talent level dropped off in a big way at the start of round three. C.J. Fiedorowicz, Billy Turner, Dezmen Southward, Charles Sims, Christian Kirksey, Preston Brown, Jay Bromley, Dexter McDougle. For all the talk of a deep draft — the third round was bang average. And the depth is starting to run dry in terms of the players we’re familiar with.

— The 49ers had a good day. Carlos Hyde offers dynamism at running back, Marcus Martin fills a need at center and Chris Borland is such a fantastic football player.

It also seems to me that the seahawks are focusing on the psychology of their players a lot now. I remember John Schneider saying they wanted to focus more on the mental characteristic s of their draft pics in an interview a while back. I heard in the interview with Paul Richardson that he had only met with seahawk psychologist. I think the seahawks are taking the next turn in the NFL with linking psychology with the draft process so heavily. if you look at all their udfas and their late round picks it was their tenacious mentality along with their physical attributes that made them succeed. It must be their focus now.

Moffit would appear like the obvious candidate but he did buy in during the time he was here. I actually think they’re referring to guys like Chris Harper where there were whispers during training camp that the guy didn’t really fit in mentally with the mold they were looking for.

I remember a reporter asking him during that time what he thought about learning to play on special teams and his answer seemed pretty telling. He said something to the effect of “It’s not something that I wake up in the morning eager to do, but I”ll do anything I have to in order to make the squad”. I thought his less than enthusiastic answer towards a responsibility that Carroll prizes highly out of all his players and especially backups and bubble players revealed too much ambivalence on what he was about and that attitude would seal his fate. Turns out he was cut the last day of camp.

One thing I noticed last year is that TY Hilton became a massive mismatch for some of the bigger corners in the NFL. He torched guys often because he was smaller, quicker, faster – like Paul Richardson. Richardson allows us to create mismatches even if he isn’t a regular starter. Plus, I envision him contributing on special teams in a variety of ways, mainly on punt returns. I like the pick and think I understand some of the reasoning, even if I had other favorite WRs on the board.

I was listening to Doug Baldwin being interviewed on KJR just right before the today’s draft. Softy asked him of the receivers available, who he wouldn’t mind the ‘Hawks picking, he said Paul Richardson. Softy asked why, and Baldwin’s response is that whoever JS drafts, that player needs to be able to hang in that WR room, meaning be able to study and put in effort in all aspects of a Seattle Seahawks WR.

Obviously not only does talent need to be evident but effort/personality does play a factor on who gets to be in those study rooms and on the field.

At the time I post this, Coleman, Moncrief, and Bryant are still available, and we have the 8th??? Pick in the 4th round, one of those should be there if PC still wants his big split end. They might not contribute much in the first year, or maybe they do I don’t know, but I’m sure after a year of practice with the team and such the will be fine turned.

Also, does not drafting a “big” WR early on show how they feel towards Chris Matthews ? Just another thought to ponder

I brought up that exact point about Matthews on the feed thread. I wonder the same thing, and will be more convinced Matthews was acquired with the intent of earning a roster spot if we do not come out of the draft with a tall pass catcher.

In the Richardson press conference a key point was made. When asked essentially, “Why this guy instead of other receivers that were available”, the Seahawks southwest scout said that they primarily look for player that have an exceptional or unique ability. The scout really didn’t elaborate on how that applied to Richardson. And that is really the one area that us armchair prognosticators will never have a sufficiently grasp. What are the unique character traits and abilities that the scouts, coaching staff, and front office see in a player that that they think they can maximize? Pouring over all the measurables in the world will never enable us to answer that question about a player because we have to be inside their heads. This is what makes predicting Seahawks picks so unpredictable, more-so than other teams that draft according to need or commonly known measurables.

No, it wasn’t. Teams that operate like that don’t even let their assistant coaches speak to the media, much less scouts. He was being asked specific questions and giving insightful answers, within the obvious bounds of discretion. The statement I referenced above was a part of that, and is something we should take to heart.

Just having watched P12 football? Pure straight line speed and acceleration. He’s fast as all hell and he gets up to speed it seems like in one stride. His average TD was something like 45 yards, and from what I saw most of those were the variety where the DB seemed to go “Okay I got this…oh *** no way!”.

Not sure how much I love the pick, but he’s definitely got that elite trait on tape.

About value, there is probably only so many times you can trade down before the offers stop and you eventually just have to take your guy. Cable also said in the Britt presser that they found out after they picked Britt he would have gone only a couple picks later. Obviously Richardson and Britt were their guys. They traded down as much as they could and ultimately had to pull the trigger. The value of taking those players where we did will be felt more as we make additional picks later on for trading down to the spots where we got them.

I’m starting to think other FOs have figured out they can prompt our FO to keep taking duds early if they just insist afterwards that they were totally going to take the same guy when their pick came up a few picks later.

Cable also said in their opinion there was a big drop off after those two. After what the Seahawks have done so far, I believe you have to trust their instincts. They do not hit on every player, but they do hit on more than any other team.

I’m just happy they finally picked a guy with the right mentality. Both Carpenter and Moff could’ve been good picks, but neither one really seemed to truly love football. Moff was ready to quit and do other things and Carp showed up fat and out of shape at his very first training camp. Their biggest problem with these guys seemed to be that they didn’t anticipate a lack of allegiance to football. It’s also the reason why a guy like Sweezy has been able to make it despite being a 7th round pick and a former defensive player.

The Britt guy seems to have his head screwed on a lot better than Carp and Moff. From the mocks it still seems he might’ve been a reach, but I feel a lot more comfortable thinking that it truly might be a difference in assessment, which I think the FO actually did an okay job with, rather than the desire to be great, which the FO did a horrible job at previously.

I’m just going to say unless this front office is drafting a Offensive lineman in the top 10 they cant do a good job. Yes thats tongue and cheek (mostly) but I’m not excited honestly. Best view I have currently is we have a few more bodies to come in and compete(?)

Top 10 or 7th/UDFA. Avoid the middle. We’ll see though. My one concern about Britt is that he is not Moffitt. Hearing him on his phone interview I have some confidence that will not be the case, from a character standpoint anyway.

Well no I actually invest about 10 hrs a week watching what players i can as a hobby. Now I didnt watch more then three games that Britt played in but he never looked like a day two guy. But thats my mistake. If I’m wrong I’m happy with that.

I think giving up no sacks in the SB had more to do with Devers depleted D line and their commitment to keep Lynch in check.

We are now giving them front office incredible leeway, and with good reason. But the main draft this front office got some major players from 2011, Wright, Kam, to name a few, those guys went in the rounds they were projected. As have a lot of the players that have been big for us. some of the reaches though, not so much. Wilson makes up for a lot of that, but he was sill drafted in his projected round.

Given their track record, if they are trying something new this year looking more closely at psych scores, it will be interesting to see how it pans out. The projected round from the national pundits doesn’t really carry much value as an index, players from lower rounds break through and go to Pro Bowls every year. You need to look at the whole career to assess a pick and even then they are only as bad as they guys that could have been picked at that spot, i.e. if no one picked after them did any better, the draft pick wasn’t really a miss.

A team that drafts for “need” doesn’t pick Michael with its top choice in 2013. They have a system that looks for best opportunity to help the team, sometimes it coincides with need, sometimes it’s luxury or forward thinking.

I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone note that Richardson provides a poor mans Harvin insurance policy and a guy who could beat Harvin in a foot race, there’s a competition to watch.

On the psychological approach, I think they are taking competition to the next level and making sure their prospective talent will respond well to their competition-based approach. If they are successful, it will only improve their hit level across the board. Given their success so far, that should scare the competition.

Britt offers the kind of talent depth where he won’t give a starting role back when he covers for an injury. Future Cable masterpiece in waiting.

From another perspective, they haven’t drafted for need first any year so far.

In 2010, anyone they picked filled a need so I guess you could count that one but would have been hard not to count any position drafted.

In 2011, when Carpenter was picked, QB was the need as were many defensive roles.

In 2012, they still needed Wilson but waited until round 3 after a 2nd Leo and an ILB. Post draft interviews said they would have been just as happy to go Kuechly or Barron if round 1 fell differently.

In 2013, top pick was a backup RB. Most felt they “needed” a WR with that pick.

I actually agree that most of their picks look like needs filled, especially in hindsight but I believe when their system works it will coincide with needs most of the time based on the low in-house scores of their existing players. But as a systematic approach, they would have been happy to scoop up Easley at 32 as has been widely reported/observed.

In 2011 their priority wasn’t to take a QB. They said it was to improve a league worst running game. Carroll said that would be the identity of the team and they couldn’t run the ball. Yes they needed a QB, but that was not the true #1 need in their view. It was upgrading the o-line. And they passed on QBs to do it.

Likewise the following year they said more speed in the front seven was the top need — and they filled it early. They signed Matt Flynn in free agency so they could be cute on Wilson. They went after their needs.

Any argument to counter this seems a bit forced IMO. It is what it is. They draft for need. I’m not uncomfortable with that.

You’ve made my point. They made an agenda for what they wanted to accomplish, they didn’t go with what they “needed” the most. Maybe its just the meaning of the word “need” that we’re debating. Schneider bristles at its use to describe what they do, and looking at his methodology and listening to his interviews, I agree with him that they just don’t draft based on need at all.

Actually Belgaron, Rob’s totally right. They have drafted for need in the high rounds every year with the only possible exception really being 2013, even though technically even that year they used the 1st round pick on their position of biggest need (receiver) via trade, but it was the first time they didn’t address their biggest need through the draft.

Corrections on your chronology:

2010 Their biggest needs at draft time that year was a left tackle to replace the retired Walter Jones, and the gaping hole at free safety after Ruskell free agent signee Brian Russell was cut at the start of the ’09 season. The lack of a competent replacement that year made it absolutely necessary they find a free safety in the draft.

2011 It was absolutely the top priority to find a right tackle to replace Sean Locklear which is the position Carpenter was drafted to play. Locklear’s play the year before had been atrocious, he was a red zone penalty waiting to happen and his play had deteriorated to where he was acting as a bull rush turnstile on the right side from what I recall were lingering injury issues from the year before when he only played half the season and Carroll had actually tried to shop him early into the ’10 season. The lack of cohesion on the line that season had made it the position group of greatest importance. Chris Spencer was cut after the season too with Unger coming off IR and not having made the successful transition to center yet. The line was a mess.

Finding a QB of the future that year was a priority but it was NOT a TOP priority at draft time because Hasselbeck was expected to be re-signed which Carroll had announced was a number one priority of the off season at the conclusion of the one and done ’10 playoffs.

2012 Finding a pass rusher was definitely one of the top priorities. They needed someone competent to help pressure the passer and help relieve Clemons at LEO because Colin Cole was atrocious.

2013 Top priority was wide receiver so they sacked their 1st round pick on Harvin.

2010, the biggest need with a new regime was QB of the future, but LT was a need, game breaking receiver was a need, tall receiver was a need, etc, etc. They were all needs.

2011 Not at all, most pundits did not think replacement for Locklear that years was the biggest need. Like I said above, in hindsight it sure looks like they filled a need but that wasn’t the general assessment at the time, at least not TOP need.

Yeah finding the QB was the top need for a number of years and they made a few ill-advised moves to fill it. I’m surprised there is even a question about that. For those years, this front office was working on finding their QB 24×7.

2013 They described Harvin as an incredible opportunity to bring a game breaker to the team. This was not to fill a “need” at WR but he did help with that too. It was bigger than that, especially when you look at the contract.

Schneider disagrees that they draft needs and I appreciate their approach, especially after Tim Ruskell. The results do often “align” with needs giving the appearance that this is the way they run their draft. They don’t, it’s based on best option to improve the team.

Sorry Belgaron but this post just screams of trying too hard to make a point. Seattle drafts for needs early. JS admits they draft to upgrade the existing roster. That’s simply a different way of saying you draft for need. If you set out to upgrade specific areas by grading players to your roster, you’re going with need.

And Arias is right — the top needs in 2010 were LT/S, the top needs were improving the running game in 2011 (by a mile, it’s the heartbeat of the entire offensive ideology) and in 2012 they wanted speed in the front seven. They never felt they had to force the QB need. They also had Hasselbeck in 2010 (they believed in him) they traded for Whitehurst, they signed a QB familiar with their offense/coordinator post lockout in 2011 and they added Matt Flynn in 2012. They added a QB every year, sometimes at great cost. It’s simply not true that they went into every draft with QB as the top need.

That’s great. If he does so, and plays well for a long time, the pick will have been reasonably returned.

And ultimately, it doesn’t matter how well any particular pick works out. In the end, there will be draft class competing for a place on the team, and for playing time. Some of those players will do well, others won’t. What round they get selected in is more about opportunity and judging the field than anything.

Who knows where the next Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor or Russell Wilson will be drafted? Red Bryant was a 4th rounder, if memory servers, and Mebane a 3rd? The reigning SB MVP was drafted in the 7th round, and has worked hard over several years to even play.

Will 7th rounder Jeremy Lane ever start at CB? I don’t know, but last I checked, he was still on the team, a good sign. The starting right corner Maxwell as a 6th rounder, right? Tate was drafted high (2nd rounder) but not sure he contributed more than Baldwin. Sure, Earl Thomas and Okung are stars, and the jury still out on Michaels and Irvin, but I think we need to consider the class as a whole, and over time, the strategy, and in those terms, I don’t know how we could possibly expect more.

The other critical variable is the commitment to keep and play the best player. Given how they draft, evaluate, and play the best, it will be a tough formula for the rest of the league to match.

Fans do look at things a bit different than coaches do. Sometimes or in some cases better. If you listen to Cable, he does not see the line the same way that you do. He likes Carpenter and he likes Sweezy. He still thinks their best football is ahead of them. I believe Cable is really good, so in this case I tend to agree with him.

“If he does so, and plays well for a long time, the pick will have been reasonably returned.”

To be honest, even if Carp plays well this year I’m not sure it would be in the team’s best interests to re-sign him since there’s really no guarantee he’ll stay motivated when not in a contract year. That makes preparing his replacement to be ready to step in his shoes this year all the more imperative.

Yes. If anyone missed Cable’s press conference tonight, be sure to catch it on seahawks.com. Cable gives tons of insight (not only into Britt), but the entire team.

What struck me the most about the conversation about Britt (thought the Carp tidbits were my favorite) was Cable’s claim that Britt looked so awkward playing left tackle- not from a physical standpoint, but a clumsiness/awkward decision standpoint. Said his 2012 tape (in between injuries) at RT was far more telling, and that I he looked far more natural.

I am sure no one was watching all that much 2012 tape on Britt. It would be interesting to know how he might have be graded based on his RT tape.

All we can do is marvel at Pete and John, for there is certainly no way to project what they will do, or what they are thinking. We assume that Pete will go after his long-sought SE, with guys like Latimer, etc, available, and he goes 180 and has now apparently decided that his SE will be a DeSean Jackson, TY Hilton type, who can take the top off and force the D to play deep and loose. How can anyone mock a Seahawks draft with such creative changes coming from them in waves?

I love how the analysts try to grade the Seahawks draft. They can’t see Justin Britt’s skill set, and want to give the pick a C minus, but they know that Pete and Tom Cable know more than they do, and their judgment has been proven by assembling, against all conventional wisdom, one of the most dominant championship teams in NFL history, so what can they say?

When Tome Cable was talking about Justin Britt, he said he was serviceable as a left tackle in the SEC, but he did not see him as a left tackle. Cable went back to his junior year when he played right tackle and then the light bulb went off for him.

Rob, try to find film from his junior year if you can. Also, Richardson was the player they had pegged at the end of the first round before they traded the pick to the Vikings. So, he was a player they wanted.

Cable also said, they had another guy in mind that went right before Britt. That guy had to be Jack Mewhort. They had already selected Richardson and Mewhort was the only other tackle taken between the two.

Hmm … I’m not sure that they’ll be taking more wide receivers. As much as I’d love to see them grab Coleman it starts become a pretty crowded corps and I believe they’d have to keep their rookie WR’s on the roster or be susceptible to getting them swooped off their practice squad.

After being initially disgusted by the Georgia tape, there are a couple glimmers in there. He is a very good run blocker on the move. I don’t know how he was getting completely blown up in probably 8 of the first 10 pass pro plays in that game, but dominated every run. Looks like a good fit for the ZBS. His inability to combat the bull-rush is worrisome though at any position on the line.

Very good awareness blocking downfield and picking up stunts/blitzes. Light on his feet at the second level. His kick-step is a little bit labored and will get burned by speed guys. Loses his balance easily when changing direction and got blown up multiple times with a bull rush. Obviously a good SPARQ guy, just behind LDT for the OL’s. High school state wrestling champion.

I don’t know… On a lot of Clowney’s speed rushes it looks like he was there if the QB was taking a 5 step drop, but he was almost always throwing dump offs over clowney’s head or scrambling after one read so, I could easily see there still being some pass rush concern with him at tackle. It was also interesting that in that highlight they didn’t run at clowney once. Near the end they score a TD running to his side, but he is pinched inside of Britt so it was a good play call. Other than that, like another noted, it was all zone right or draws up the middle. IDK… I love the Richardson pick though, and he was on NFLN in the morning and looked great on there. Really well spoken and confident. Easy to see he is going to fit in just fine.

well that sucked. it feels just like the irving and carpenter picks. I know I should have faith but this is getting silly. rob listed about 7 to 8 diff ot we could take and we didn’t. the wr might be good but don’t we already have that? im just disappointed. I thought there was better talent on the board. I hope im wrong but this looks like crap.. bash me all u want (cause I know u will) but this coulda been a lot better.
again I hope im wrong

Irvin, not Irving. If you are going to complain about past picks you should at least educate yourself on them. As far as OLINE Britt is more inline with the type of lineman that Cable has been successful with ie position flexibility, athletic, and wrestler. Our Oline depth chart just got deeper at every position but center – that’s valuable.

The gripe is we could have got Britt in the fifth or whatever, which is a mentality borne from a vertical grading scale which the Seahawks do not use. And Cable was probably correct that Britt would not have bee there in the 4th when we pick again. Moses and my boy Billy Turner went just a couple picks later. Britt’s LT is uninspired and Cable admitted as much. I’d like to find some 2012 tape of him at RT which is apparently much better and where Cable says is his best position.

Haven’t you been watching the draft long enough to realize that where people go in mock drafts has very little to do with how actual NFL teams evaluate them? The mocks help us guess at their value, but any inaccuracies are completely on us and the cheesy amateur publications we subscribe to, not on the NFL teams.

If you think Britt was a 5th rounder, it 100% just means you were ignorant (as well as anyone else that gave you that information). Learn to live with this fact.

u may be right eli, but think about this; Irvin got 8 sacks his rookie year and the coaching staff was so impressed that they moved him to lb. its still early in his career and he could turn out to be great but so far not first round worthy.

He also is not given credit for things he was asked to do that isn’t glamorous. Spying on Kap after the first half of Kap running all over the Hawks is something he should get credit for. Not glamorous, but he did a good job in his assignment.

Sometimes I almost feel as though Pete/JS pick these guys just to make a point…they at times make horrible decisions and at times incredible decisions. Their history regarding certain positions is abysmal: WR and offensive line most notably. Defense all around they are great. QB and RB they are pretty good, but prior to Russell no one would say that.

I think in the end they are attemping to be too smart for their own good. Sometime the best choice is the massive WR with blazing speed and a sky high ceiling.

Sorry to be a pedant, but they didn’t draft Baldwin (UDFA) nor Unger (2009 draft under Mora). I have to agree with the OP, WR is pretty poor: Tate took 3 years to develop (worth the wait though), Harper cut without playing a game, Durham underwhelming then cut. OL is probably fractionally better – Okung – stud when healthy, not healthy very often, Carpenter the jury is out, Moffitt is gone, 3 7th round guys last year of which Bowie is promising, the other 2 are gone.

The problem is that PCJS have been so good on D, seemingly conjuring pro-bowlers/high level starters out of day 3 picks on a regular basis, that in comparison O has looked very shaky. Hopefully that changes this year!

….we have to stop looking for well-rounded skill sets, guys who seem to be the complete package, but rather find the guy with a single trait that is superior to everyone else. Richardson is obviously speed. Britt seems to be grit, state champion wrestler, a back alley knife fighter.

with his measurables and his nasty side i have complete faith that tom cable can make this guy a good tackle. as far as him getting bull rushed im not to worried about that in the long term as most guys coming out of college need to get stronger.

Rob – if it makes you feel better, Cable said he had 2 guys on his list – one went early, a guy who thought he’d be there – has to be James. They do sound high on Britt and while other guys think Britt is a reach, Cable has his type of guys. I just hope this RT will protect Russell!

I also hope PR will stay healthy! Percy, Sid have been out too much – I hope PR can play 16+ games a year.

There is the one guy who is raw Cornelius Lucas – 6’8″ 315 – likely UDFA but if Cable could work with him – wow. Wesley Johnson and John Ulrick are two guard possibilities Ulrick may be a UDFA. If Chris Siddoway hadn’t decided to rob someone’s house, I thought he might be a prospect in the lower rounds.

Paul Richardson’s ability to get off the line is something I definitely slept on when watching him. It’s so important for his success at his size to not be physically dominated at the line and thrown off his routes.

Also it sounds pretty obvious that Pete and John feel like Paul Richardson has that competitive, chip on the shoulder personality. Which is something us fans can’t really get a great feel for. Pete and John seem to be the best at identifying those type of guys.

I still think he needs to get stronger and most likely he will. Even though I wasn’t very high on Richardson before the draft, I’m starting to see the vision of a uniquely explosive passing game with Harvin and P-Rich on the field at the same time. And I don’t know that now a team like the Arizona Cardinals are going to be able to play Cover 0 or Cover 1 press man like they did when they beat us at C-link.

And the Seahawks still have the chance to add a big explosive receiver to pair along with them if they so choose. Imagine adding Martavis Bryant or Brandon Coleman or whatever big WR the Seahawks love who we’ve never heard of. It could make for a very explosive passing game.

Yeah, I’d say our WR core is a bit better with Richardson and Percy back. And I do think they made this pick with it in mind that they can’t expect to get more than 8 games out of Percy regardless. I also do like that it sounds like they picked Britt with a monster run blocker in mind – that’s our offensive identity at its core and we SUCKED at short yardage to go last year, just no ability to impose our will unless Beast Mode just straight up took it himself.

I’ll admit i didnt know anything about richardson when we drafted him. but the more i see and read i think it was a good pick for our team. according to our scout he is good at beating press coverage runs good routes and is good at getting seperation. not to mention the opposing safties wont be as willing to cheat coverage over to harvin with this guy running around.

The Seahawks O is going to look so different this season, we will hardly recognize it. Imagine adding the speed of Harvin and Richardson to this unit. Percy impacted the Super Bowl with his jet sweeps and his kick return, but he was not integrated at all into the passing game. When he did run a few routes, he was almost invisible to RW, since they had not practiced together….or better to say that RW did not look for him because he was being careful to protect the ball by throwing it exactly where he knew his guys (Baldwin, Tate and Kearse) would be. A power run game/deep strike O with Harvin and Richardson fully integrated will be like a blitzkrieg.

Didn’t we here quite a bit from SF about their desire to acquire a pure speed receiver? And as a result Brandon Cooks was mocked to them over and over. Well, after five picks through three rounds SF has not come away with a single receiver, but rather a group of players that don’t scare anyone plus a redshirt player (CMike greater than CHyde). And we came away with possibly the single fastest route running and straight line receiver in the draft.

Yeah – AZ picking up Kareem M hurt a lot! He has to develop, but he is fast. I really hope our O-Line is up for this! The Rams front 4 is stacked, AZ is stronger and faster. SF is still good, but may be getting older.

Wow what an incredibly underwhelming draft. I realize that JS/PC earned the benefit of the doubt here but I’m extremely disappointed with this first cpl of days. Then to load up on the 4th round where they have not done a stellar job recently…. Prove me wrong boys.

As a side note to James, I could care less what the “media” think and in fact rather enjoy listening to the so called experts fall all over themselves trying to understand the methods of this teams brain trust. My reaction is simply one of a personal nature. I, as I’m sure many others who follow this blog, have invested a lot of thought into this draft and have become enamoured with certain players. That none of my particular favorites were chosen leads to a snap reaction of disappointment. I’m sure that I will be proven wrong and I also realize that when you swing for the fences as often as these guys you occasionally pop out! I will evaluate this latest draft class not only on Sundays but also in training camp and preseason and on the day after this draft has concluded. It’s this particular passion that makes the 12 man the best fan base in the sporting world!!

I agree with Ray. We already have plenty of speedy receivers so RichArdson is just a replacement for one of them. The tackle is serviceable in the same way Bowie and Bailey are, and most likely could have been picked in the same 7 the round as them. I accept that PC has the best training program out there. But these picks won’t help our offense when we face St Louis league best defensive line. Why did we pass on Bitonio and Latimer for these two? I’m sure they will become serviceable but nothing special in these picks.

We should really know by now the Seahawks won’t take the names we were expecting, but it always surprises us anyway. Latimer or davante Adams would have been the obvious we choices, but the Seahawks don’t do obvious. I did think Richardson was an option but thought they’d want a big redzone target more. Think Richardson will be good though, a great athlete with the production to back it up.
Reading up on tackles before the draft britt was one of three I thought could be an option in or around round 4 (the others were Michael schofield and Wesley Johnson). Wouldn’t surprise me if they take another ol today.

My concerns with Richardson are his small hands and small catch radius. Coupled with his slight frame that makes it difficult for him to outmuscle anyone for the ball, and his small hands making it more difficult for him to reel in grabs sometimes makes him seem almost contrarian to all the qualities we *thought* PC was looking for and valued in a wide receiver target. It almost seems like he’s got this singular obsession with speed and separation that maybe he’s been secretly harboring all along from his USC days but has only come to rear its head again now after watching Percy in the bowl whet his appetite for it again; that he’s now willing to overlook everything else in pursuit of that quality. It’s bizarre.

He’s more than earned the right to receive the benefit of any doubt from me, I’m just stunned that I missed what I *thought* he’d want to see in his wide receiver prospects.

There’s nothing about his catch radius that’s small. He’s over 6′ and has a pretty huge vert. Heck just watch the highlights – he snags a ton of absolutely terrible passes that are way the hell out there off target.

It’s not my favorite pick, but they apparently were willing to turn it in at 32 and got 2 more picks to go along with getting him anyway, and I can see where he fits so I can live with it. They need to stop letting Cable go shopping outside the dollar store, though.

“His hands aren’t reliable, which tends to be the case with small-handed receivers. He has a knack for making a big catch, but he just lets some passes slip through his grip.

Because of this, Richardson has a smaller catch radius than many of the other receivers in this draft. He’s not going to regularly reach out his arms and snag a wayward pass. One of the huge benefits of a receiver with strong hands like Sammy Watkins or Jordan Matthews is that the functional target area for a pass is wider because of their ability to track the ball, and also reach out for it with powerful, capable hands.

Richardson tries to do that, but comes up short. He tracks the ball well and makes an effort, but he just doesn’t have the ability to bring the ball back in for a reception.”

38 inch vert works for me – let’s see how he does before we say he doesn’t have a good radius. Part of what he is going to do for us is stretch the field which opens it up for the other receivers and for Marshawn.

Weird. I’m looking at the drop rate stats for the 2013 ncaa season compiled by greg pashek which has Richardson’s drop rate listed at 8.89%.

Pashek says he only compiles what he deems to be ‘easy catches’ as drops, that way bad quarterback play doesn’t factor into the rates. He notes any percentage between 6-9% as questionable and anything above that a red flag.

So while Richardson is at the marginal end of questionable it was also interesting to note the receivers that had a considerably higher drop rate than him. Benjamin, Bryant, Lee, Moncrief, and Washington all had higher drop rates with the latter 4 in the double digits and Lee, Bryant, and Washington in the twelve range.

PC said that Richardson has a catch radius of a 6’3″ player…I trust his opinion way more than some media dude. His arms are 32.63″ long. Longer than Latimer,Robinson, Watkins, and Moncreif among others. I personally think too much is made of hand size. The measurement is horizontal and doesn’t account for vertical hand length. Richardson has a few drops but makes some amazing catches too!

Make up your own mind. There’s a lot of positive opinions in the media on Richardson too, don’t focus on the negative. JS/PC focus on each players special abilities. Speed kills and we just got faster!

I don’t really see Jackson or Hilton either, though I really don’t see any Butler. I agree with Carroll who said he is an amazing combination of the talents of Percy, Baldwin, and Kearse. After he said that, watching his film is like an “A Ha!” moment.

Richardson has the exact same body type as Butler which is a concern because Butler was fragile. He also shares nearly identical positive traits such as speed and smooth route running. I would say Butler is a perfect comparison…

1) All I know is I don’t want RW to take too many hits and pressures, and he took too many last year. So I was looking to see what the FO would do about that. They took Britt. Apparently the idea is that he replaces Breno. The trust factor, as Rob mentioned, falls to Cable. If you don’t like Britt, you’re saying you don’t trust Cable. I have no choice – I have to believe the guy can coach people into his system.

2) The message to Carpenter couldn’t be plainer: a combination of encouragement, minus money. Again, it goes back to trusting Cable. It’s nut-cutting time, and uncertainty provides undeniable focus. Carpenter is a head case. He needs urgency and maturity – the body is not the issue. If he finds it, a whole lot of problems disappear, the entire OL benefits, and depth issues look like less of a problem. These are young men, folks. Some take longer to figure life out than others. I hope Carp gets it, though I remain skeptical.

3) With respect to Paul Richardson, I agree with the Hilton comparison. No, the Hawks still don’t have PC’s dream big receiver (basically Megatron). But nobody does – and it seems they valued something else more than that. I coveted Latimer, but I get it.

What’s everybody else doing? Copying the Hawks. What to do if you’re getting copied? Bet the other way. What beats a big, rangy corner? A small, skittering fast guy. Now they have that guy – a field-stretcher who forces deep coverage, softens the mid-range throws and takes a little pressure off of Harvin if both guys are on the field.

That’s a big deal, as far as I’m concerned, and I’m beginning to think it was the whole point. Teams fear Harvin. Think about the receiving corps as it stood before Richardson, without Tate. Who do you key on? Answer: Harvin. You do what New Orleans did in the playoffs – target him and headhunt. The rest of the crew you can handle.

Now add Richardson. Add Baldwin and Kearse (or Rice, or even Pryor) in a 4-wide set, plus Zach Miller. Suddenly it’s far harder to target Harvin. You must account for the deep threat, because RW will hit the mark in a scramble drill. If separation is your worry, Richardson provides it.

The Rams are killing this draft! I love all their picks so far. They still don’t have much at CB or WR, but man that front 4 is scary good! Wilson was running for his life last year. Now they add the best DT in the draft. NFC West arms race!

I think we all really missed was the all around WR’s tend to be good when the ball is thrown their way a lot. We run an offense that is predicated on the explosive play, and what better way to do that then get a speedster that might challenge Earl Thomas and Percy Harvin as the fastest player on the team. Not only that, but his skill set is the one thing that the team doesn’t really have, a true deep threat. Lockette really doesn’t count.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Cody Latimer, then I realized, how much is Latimer like Jermaine Kearse? Comparing the two, it seemed like they were actually very similar. I couldn’t find a lot combine numbers, but it seems that Latimer was a bit stronger, and a better leaper, but that’s about it. Skill wise, I think Latimer has a higher ceiling, but how much higher for a team that only passes 20-25 times a game?

I’m Pissed off. I will say it. Nothing personal, I wish Richardson and Britt the best and I hope I am wrong. But Richardson could have been had much later, and there were better options than Britt.

I swear PC/ JS get too cute and and it bites them in the butt, as it did this time. There comes a time when quality is a priority over quantity. They believe too much in themselves that they can pick a middlle round guy for cheap and coach them up. Its ego. Just pick the good elite player and be happy about it. Was getting a 4th rd pick really worth it?

Latimer and Bitonio were both availableat at 32. Cable said he was targeting an OL guy and someone got him earlier than expected. Well thats what happens when you get cute and now you get the leftovers.

Just look and compare Latimer and Richardson side by side. Richardson is a skinnny finese track guy who can’t block and body catches most of the time. Latimer runs nearly as fast and is stronger and durable and can make the tough catches. He is insurance for Harvin, so why replace one fragile guy with another?

Who do you honestly think knows better in the situation you describe, what fits the Hawks most appropriately? My humble suggestion is that you not worry so much.

Let those that do this for a living worry, and given previous track record (D weighted for success or not) it IS what they do. Don’t forget, we have “the precious” as a result of a COMPLETE rebuild they ran.

Rob I have to say I’m not seeing Urban the same as you. looks the part yes, but from what Ive seen and i spent the last few hrs poring over his tap again, there are just too many arm tackles that he misses. For someone of that size and strength I just expect a better showing.

I went to sleep at 5am after we picked our 2nd guy. I had a feeling i’ll wake up right in time to hear to post draft despair. It’s been that way for years, not reason for it to change now.

Until the JS/PC era it was usually justified and the results were out there for all to see. Actually, till 2010, our picks felt like trades. We picked the kind of players that ensured getting a great draft position the next year due to our losing record.

PC and TC have a special mutual record. Both were head coaches before. Both left those jobs with their tail between their legs. Both had the time afterwards to rethink their football philosophy and develop new insights regarding what they would do if there will a next time. They joined forces here and have put their plan in motion.

It’s time to face the facts people. They see it differently then we do, they march to a different beat. Whatever concessions they may have made to “conventional wisdom” have long been discarded and they are laughing all they way to the bank.

We spend months predicting and evaluating and end up feeling like idiots. We all missed it by a mile AGAIN. It’s natural for us to vent our frustrations and hang some of it on their heads. After all, it can’t be just us and most of the football world that’s been so wrong about those players right?

I’m sorry guys but…it can be. It can be that everybody is dead wrong and only the guys that took a dead horse team and turned it into SB champions within 4 years are right.

Some mentioned that they “deserve the benefit of the doubt” – THEY DO NOT. They do not deserve one inch of doubt. Not from us and not from experts and media pundits. I’m not saying that each and every individual call and pick is 100% dead on the money, no one can expect that. What i am saying is that the whole system that evaluates and makes those calls and picks as a combined preconceived master plan and philosophy is currently beyond reproach.

Whatever they do and whoever they pick should generate 2 responses as follows –
1. Damn, how did we all miss that? (We did, they didn’t…)
2. Wooow, I’m so glad they keep doing it to me just like they do it to everybody else. The day they pick out of Mayock’s or anybody else’s top 100 value chart is the day we have returned to Tim Russell’s era.

Sit back, smile, those 2 picks are a clear indication that everything in the kingdom is just fine. We still have a clear road ahead, no one has caught on to what we do and they way we do it. The stranger the pick is, the more it tells you that we are still alone on our path and still true to the unique concepts that brought us tell jokes at the 2nd half of the SB.

If we were right and they were wrong, we’d be in that draft room and TC/PC/JS would be writing in this blog….it’s the other way around for a good reason, deal with it.

Pete and John are artists….as simple as that. We are not, nor are Mel Kiper, MIke Mayock, nor about 25 GMs in the league. We look at a block of marble and analyze the grain, the weight, the color….they look at it and see a statue of David. They are Michaelangelo and we are the musuem patrons….and like museum patrons, we can stand and stare in awe at the work of art, analyzing it from every possible perspective, but are no closer to creating it ourselves than the day we were born. We love going to the museum, and visit it every day we can (as we visit our draft sites), but we are here to appreciate, not create. Lets have fun trying to figure it out, but not kid ourselves that we can do it better.

Using your analogy, Rob and some of the participants in this forum are more than just museum patrons. They are the art critics. They help the rest of us (the museum patrons) appreciate which of the picks are truly great and which don’t quite measure up.

Time will be the real truth-tell, but I’m glad to be able to come here now and read informed opinions about the good and bad of the draft so far. I find that much preferable to “Michelangelo sculpted it so it must be good.”

The other good thing about JS/PC is when they make a mistake, they fix it.

It seems to me that they know the offense has to get better – faster, explosive – because once again every team is going to try and shut down the running game. If we have more passing weapons, it will open it up. They know the D is still really really good. We were 26th in passing – we won’t every be top 10, but if you go up 5 spots, how much does that give you. The defenses we are playing in our division are KILLER – we have to be better on offense.

“Whatever they do and whoever they pick should generate 2 responses as follows –
1. Damn, how did we all miss that? (We did, they didn’t…)
2. Wooow, I’m so glad they keep doing it to me just like they do it to everybody else.”

I’m glad that Rob and the participants in this forum don’t limit themselves to those two responses. That would make for a rather boring post-draft discussion.

I agree with you that we could do without the knee-jerk, angry, “sky is falling” predictions of doom and gloom every time JS and PC veer away from conventional wisdom. And at the end of the day, I’m quite pleased that they pick the players they think are best, not the ones I think are best.

But I logged on this morning hoping to read critical analysis of our two picks last night, and that’s usually going to include both positive and negative considerations — not just “Rest assured that Pete and John know best.”

EranUnger, the readers on this blog are for the most part very knowledgeable and are certainly entitled to their opinions. We get it, the Hawks look for exceptionally unique traits that not every other team values. That said, the front office has had some misses in the past that did in fact deserve “doubt”, Harper, Durham, Carpenter, Howard, Moffatt, Legree, to name a few. They’ve also hit massive home runs in Wilson, Sherman, Thomas, Wagner, and more. That said, they need to continue drafting well which is a big reason why we’re all interested in this blog. Everyone please keep your opinions coming.

Yes, let’s all air our opinions – that’s what makes this interesting and how we learn. It’s all good.

Having said that, the one comment I like in response to EranUngar’s post was from CC:

“The other good thing about JS/PC is when they make a mistake, they fix it.”

You try it, you work it, you mold it, and when it falters, you get rid of it. You don’t insist on Carpenter playing at RT when he fails (although that was painful to watch). Recall how we were all sentimental about keeping BMW? Well, he couldn’t maintain his ability and he was cut.

They manage the talent (and the cost of that talent) with expertise and respect. Clemons/Bryant – see ya. (And remember all the hand-wringing about that trade for Clemons – you’d of thought the entire franchise was in flame! And where is Daryl Tapp now?)

And recall that bargain-basement trade for Lynch. Was that genius, or what?

The one for Harvin has yet to prove out. Costly, in both draft capital and dollars, but we’ll see. I am not sure his contribution in the SB quite pays for it; a couple more years of full-time excellence will, though.

It’s an integrated whole: the entire program, from talent evaluation, to talent acquisition, to a commitment to play the best. These next 4 picks may serve as the meat and potatoes of this draft, and we haven’t seen it yet. Richardson and Britt will likely provide excellent 2nd round value to the entire class, once we see it entire.

The high speed element to this offense has been missing. It was something I thought a few times before they’d address in other ways, previously. Last year I was looking at the “unique traits” of Marquise Goodwin, who is likely even faster than Richardson. He is 3″ shorter, 180 ish lbs, but jumps 4″ higher – and actually is quite a sparq freak. And a raw but improving skill set, with rave reviews from coaches about his work ethic and potential. When he was on the board around pick 70 last year I was thinking they’d pop for him. But I guess they didn’t like him or find a way to make it work. I wrote it off as they didn’t like the size/rawness.

After seeing them them pass on guys like Ginn, jacoby ford, DHB and others of that ilk on the market more than a few times, but dilly dally with Lockette, I stopped looking at the speed freaks.

Clearly they think much more highly of Richardson as a player than those other guys. And probably rightly so- he looks much more of a football player than those guys. I wrongly put him in that same category and stopped thinking about him as a possible pick.

I do wish they’d have found Goodwin on their roster last year, though. I think he’s got something worth drawing out. I wonder if Buffalo can do it.

Here’s Kiper’s analysis on Britt “I must be crazy to question the Seahawks, right? After all, they do a brilliant job in development and consistently turn midround talent into premier players. But I need to be true to my ratings and just note that I think Britt would have been available much later. What I’m asked to do here is to say how well I think teams did in adding talent based on where they had a chance to do so, and I think if Seattle coveted Britt, they could have landed him later in the day on Day 3. I’m prepared to say he’ll succeed, however.”. I agree with that assessment, I think Britt has every chance to succeed, I just don’t believe value was there and he could have been had later. It’s just my opinion based upon the limited tape I watched on Britt and reading his scouting evaluations The value just doesn’t seem to be there, I hope I’m wrong.

If it was a reach okay, it was a reach. Cable wanted James if you listen to his presser and Britt was the guy they had 2nd. If you listen to him talk about him it is because this kid won’t quit. He was a HS wrestler that went 45-0 – that is the guy they want, always compete, grit.

Cable suggested that Britt would have been taken a few picks later… Who cares what Kiper’s “board” read? Obviously, Britt was higher on our board than his. Therefore, it was not a “reach” at all for us. Who is better at scouting right tackles, Cable or Kiper?

Your analysis of Britt was wrong. While you had him available my later he was picked by the NFL champions at the 2nd round. It must be frustrating for you to be so wrong but that is no reason to project your mistake on the esteemed SB champions. The Seahawks thought he is worth a 2nd round choice. The Seahawks seem to be doing a brilliant job at PICKING and developing talent consistently. Making a prediction that the Seahawks are the only team with a sharper eye for talent is flattering but can’t be the sole basis for your evaluation. If the seahawks thought he is worthy of a 2nd round pick it’s not unlikely that some other team could have noticed this guy and picked him before the Seahawks are back on the clock in the 4th round.

In view of the above we totally reject your reaction to this pick as we rejected your reaction to most of the Seahawks picks in the past.

However, we would like to congratulate you for the careful respect you show in your evaluation this time. I guess that a steady diet of seahawks colored hats after the draft of the past few years made you more careful this year.

I have no issue with Kiper’s take. He has to call it how he sees it. He cannot get into Tom Cable’s mind — nobody can. Nobody was going to call that pick. All Kiper can do is analyse the selection based on his study because that’s his job. Nothing he said was disrespectful or unnecessary. A very fair assessment. And his grade might be accurate down the road. We’ll find out over the next few years.

Yeah I don’t see any reason to get on Kiper for saying that a pick would have been available 3 more rounds down because that’s not based on what he thinks but what he’s hearing with his ear to the ground. If his team sources are telling him a guy is a 5th round grade then based on the average of what he’s hearing that’s going to be his assessment.

Ultimately, there’s really no way for us to know either how accurate it is even if JS came out and claimed someone was about to take him a couple picks later because there’s no way for even JS to know if that’s true or not. But Kiper is at least plugged into pre-draft opinions by team sources FWIW so it’s not like his opinion is out on some island.

What’s really hard about the PC/JS program is there were a lot of picks last year that didn’t play at all and you wonder was that 1 year enough to get them good enough to compete and take that next step. You don’t see the guy for a whole year so you just don’t know where he’s at and how that will affect the draft. I wouldn’t be surprised that they aren’t players for those guys that have 1year on there contracts now in this draft. If that so you’ll see another WR and LB going 3rd Day.
To be honest I feel better if I was hitting the last picks of this draft. I’d really be stoked if we got us a
Ed Stinson
Marquis Flowers
Antone Exum
Brent Urban
Zack Moore

schneider has said multiple times ” we dont draft for other teams we draft for our team”. i actually think that richardson is the best reciever they could have taken for our team because of his insane speed. and from listening to him he is working hard this offseason on his return skills so he can get on the field more this year.

I love Richardson’s attitude on the field and speed. Seems like a great competitor. I love the pick but I was sold on the idea that they were taking a big WR like a lot of us…hey Martavis Bryant is still on the board going into the 4th! Wow. Great Value there if they can keep him Motivated.

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